I found the following on Otto Reif Suhl in an April 19th, 1951 article & it may take a bit to extract any more & correct but it is a riot.
"Thursday, April 19, 1951 Otto Reif Wins Divorce From East Germany Gunsmith Safe In West Berlin BERLIN, April Iff.--(£)--Otto Reif has won his divorce from East Germany and Communist life, after a bitter battle. Sixty-six year old Reif, one of the world's greatest gunsmiths, is safe in West Berlin with his family and his best workers, his tools and all he needs to start life again. Reif made shotguns all his life in Suhl, Thuringia, one of Europe's gun centers. He made them for the Kaiser and for the Nazi hunters. There was nothing political in old Otto's guns until Communism came along. A while before Stalin's birthday, in December, 1949, the Russians came to Otto and said: "We want the finest shotgun ever made for Generalissimo Stalin's birthday. Ivory stock. Gold engraving and some jewels. What will it cost?" Reif asked for time and calculated. Two sets of matched guns. He came back with an estimated 65,000 marks. The East mark in such a case cannot be calculated in dollars. An East mark is worth only about one-fifth of the west mark on the black market but the fact is it buys what a man needs in the east zone where the average worker gets 150 to 200 marks monthly. The Russians told Reif that was a satisfactory deal. He made the guns and eventually brought them, in push cases, The Russian officers admired them, accepted delivery and told Reif to beat it. Months went by and it became clear no payment would be made. He was almost ruined. By putting in 15 and 16 hour days himself, and scrimping on every conceivable item, Reif managed to keep his business from folding up. About six- months after, ( lie episode, he was able to sight and reckon he had recovered from the financial blow. Then the German Communist leadership walked into the shop. One of them said: "We understand you made shotguns for Marshal Stalin. You forgot to pay the luxury tax....
....The money comes from oil and Another 65,000 marks. . Reif was aghast, and said: ' "But I'll be ruined." -Obviously you are not a good businessman," the Communists said. "It is apparent the state should operate your shops on a much more business-like basis." That's when Otto had enough. Little by little he started to move his prizes out of the Russian zone into West Berlin and finally came over himself. His Suhl works is now a "people's owned" shop but the art of Reif's gun-making is gone. Those who possess it are in West Berlin with the old master. The Allied Military Security Board has given Reit a license to manufacture shotguns. "I wonder," he muses. "Did Stalin ever get those guns?""
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
